Richard A. Viguerie has penned an article on Fred Thompson asking whether he should be the choice for conservatives in the upcoming presidential election. After describing Thompson’s history in politics as senator and as a lobbyist, and going through issues like McCain-Feingold Bill and the Asia fundraising scandal, his answer is a resounding no. Here are some excerpts from the article:
Senator Barry Goldwater became the first political spokesman for the conservative movement because, out of all the Republican politicians who claimed to be conservative in the 1950s, he and he alone was willing to confront the sitting Big Government Republican in the White House. President Eisenhower’s policies were “a dime store New Deal,” he said on the floor of the Senate. He spoke truth to power.
Well, again we have a Big Government Republican in the White House, and now it’s no longer a dime store New Deal—it’s a supersized Wal-Mart of a New Deal. The Republican welfare state is far worse than anything the Democrats achieved.
And what has been Fred Thompson’s response these past seven years as the GOP massively expanded the federal government? If he’s said anything to warn us about the direction of the Republican Party, he’s said it so quietly that nobody—not just us, nobody—has noticed. And by his silence he has become complicit. (emphasis mine)
For six of his eight years as a Senator, Thompson ranked in the bottom half of Republican Senators in terms of his commitment to conservatism. What makes this more remarkable is that he served as a Senator from Tennessee, winning his two elections by hefty margins. He didn’t have the excuse that his electorate was liberal, like the electorates of RINO Senators from Oregon, Maine, or Rhode Island. He had a safe seat with a conservative electorate. So when he voted liberal, we have to assume it’s because that’s what he believed. (emphasis mine)
Can someone please explain to me what appeal Fred Thompson has to conservatives? I’ve heard some people out there salivating at the idea of Fred running for president, and I don’t really see anything about him that appeals to me. My impression is that he’s a cookie-cutter conservative Republican, in Ronald Regan sense, but I don’t see much that distinguishes him from anyone else.
Of course, he was the man in The Hunt for Red October.
I can’t believe what little coverage Ron Paul is getting in the “mainstream press”. Running for political office seems to be a chicken and egg game, where the media ends up deciding who is viable. Think about it:
The press only cover “viable” candidates.
Viable candidates are those who poll well.
Candidates can only poll well if the electorate are aware of the them.
The electorate only know about people whom the press cover.
When people are polled, they choose a candidate they know about.
Lather, rinse, and repeat.
Thankfully, the Ron Paul campaign, like the Howard Dean campaign during the 2004 election, is working as a true grassroots campaign, despite the lack of coverage. Now, the numbers are showing it! According the campaign fundraising disclosures, the Ron Paul campaign has raised more money than the McCain campaign, this puts him at number three amongst the Republican candidates, although he is admittedly well behind the Romney and Giuliani.
I was talking to a friend of mine who made a very interesting comment about the people where he grew up in western Pennsylvania. He said that the people out there tend to want to support the winner. It’s almost like betting on horses… their goal is to go in and vote for the person they think is going to win. I don’t think this thinking is limited to Western PA. Once you wrap your head around the recursiveness of this thinking, you start to see how much influence the media has in who gets elected in this country. If the media projects an idea that a person like Paul can’t win, people will conclude he can’t win, and end up not voting for him.
A meetup group has been formed in Chester County to support Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. The Chester County Meetup Group currently has 20 members, and is growing pretty quickly. The neat thing about the meetups is that they’re totally grassroots in their organization. People in different areas start their own groups, to get the word out in their communities. The Chester County group has plans to meet on the fourth Wednesday of every month in Glenmoore.
I found a post by a guy I hadn’t read before, linked from Mark Hornes’ blog. It’s comments on the recent PCA General Assembly, but I really loved his quote at the end:
Chapter 1 of [The Westminster] confession seems to be saying this in essence “Stop arguing about the confession. Go do Biblical Theology. Not all parts are clear. Bring clarity to the discussion via the discipline of Biblical Theology. Then talk about it in terms of Systematic Theology. Then go do Biblical Theology. Repeat till Jesus comes!” Going beyond the confession is actually the way to be confessional. The way to be married isn’t to stand around in a suit and a dress repeating words. Go enjoy your union! Our union with Christ came to us through the word. Our clarity, like our vows, come through creeds and confessions. But we camp out in the Scriptures, just as we must sleep in our marriage bed and live in our family home. (emphasis mine)
I’m going to lay out a couple of facts here, and then let you in on my latest theory. If true, this dire situation could lead to the destruction of the United States!
Chinese restaurants exist around the United States.
Chinese restaurants have different “formats”, including take out, delivery, and the all-mighty buffet style.
Chinese food tends to be extremely inexpensive, to the point where it defines reason that they could ever make any money.
Chinese food is delicious.
Chinese food is identical around the country. While there are some slight variances on the tastes of different food types, egg foo yong, mu shu pork, General Tso’s chicken, and mu gu gai pan all taste the same whether you’re in New York, California, or anywhere in between.
Despite the previous fact, the Chinese food we have in America does not exist in China. Go over there, and ask for shrimp fried rice and an egg roll, and they’ll look at you like you’re crazy.
Add up all these facts, and the answer, I believe, is both terrifying and obvious.
Chinese restaurants in the United States are subsidized by officials in the Chinese government and the Chinese military in order to make Americans overweight and complacent. It is part of their first strike strategy, so when they do decide to invade the United States, the Americans will be less likely and less able to defend themselves.
Their assault has been ongoing for some time, but with the advent of the cheap Chinese buffet, their plan has gone into full production. It is now only a matter of time before the citizens of the United States will be so fat that we will simply change the channel when we hear about the invasion.
Warn your friends… warn your neighbors… and don’t go back for thirds at the buffet!
Ron Paul aside, next year’s presidential election looks like it’s shaping up to be a extremely pathetic in terms of who will be on the ballot. From the RINO to the suit, from the semi-liberal to the actor, it’s shaping up to be real circus.
What really scares me, though, is not the parade of names trying to one-up each other in the primaries, but, looking past that, to the general election, and the principles that conservative Christians are going to be selling down the river.
I’m seriously considering putting in an order for Ron Paul Signs, (you can see them on display here). However, they’re running for $165 for a lot of 100 on Ebay, so I may need to wait until I get my allowance next month. Once I do pick them up, I’ll let you all know, so you can swing by and pick up your own sign.
P.S. If anyone is interesting in helping defray the costs, let me know in the comments.
Found an editorial in Crisis Magazine, linked off reddit, by Mark Shea called “Insensitivity Training: Facing the Crybaby Culture“. After spending a good amount of time describing some inane, and often unbelievable examples of people whom you would think are getting paid to be offended, he ends with this advice for these whiners.
Consider the possibility that you just need to get a life. Signs of this need include spending all day in a sweat of irritation because religious people exist, hallucinations that you are being raped by classical music, constant convulsive outrage over words like “history” and “master/slave” or “outing,” and a gasping sense of oppression at the thought of urinals. Wigging out over leprechauns and tomahawk chops is another “get a life” indicator. Still other signs include loss of sleep and anger-management issues over presidential greeting cards, cartoons, ice cream lids, and books with pigs in them.
While he does touch on crybabies in the religious world, I think an entire article could have been written about overly sensitive people the church. For a group of people who have been saved by Grace, we tend to be the least gracious people to our fellow wretches.
For those of you who have never seen a sumo match, load up your bittorrent client (I use Azureus) and download this torrent.
This is the final day of the sumo tournament going on right now that I attended last week. The video is two hours long, and is just the Makuuchi division (the 40 highest ranked wrestlers). The final day was a bit of an exhibition, since Hakuho won the tournament yesterday. The only question for today was whether he would finish the tournament undefeated. With this win, and his win at the last tournament in March, he is expected to be promoted to become the 69th Yokozuna.
One match is not going to make a fan out of you… I’ve been following the current Yokozuna, Asashoryu, since he became Yokozuna around the time I started traveling to Japan a few years ago. As tournaments happen and careers progress, it gets really addicting to follow both.
I know, I know. I just got back from a Tokyo, spent a day soaking in an onsen, watched the sun come up in a shouchu bar, and watched the yokozuna get beat during the summer sumo tournament in Ryogoku, and here I am posting more Ron Paul videos.
Apparently, while I was gone, Ron Paul gave Rudy G a bit of a high school world history lesson during one of the debates. Afterwards, Bill Mahar invited Dr. Paul onto his show to go into more details.
One comment before the show. About two months ago, Bill Mahar had Ron Paul on his show very quickly, and he dismissed Dr. Paul as a neo-confederate nut. During his introduction, I think Bill Maher was uncharacteristically conciliatory.
Stolen from a post on Tara Barthel’s Blog, here is a true story that will cause you to appreciate every moment of your children’s lives.
The celebration of Eliot Mooney’s life was so beautiful. I am eternally thankful that his parents recorded his life so well, and that they had the heart to share this treasure with others.
Praise God for every day our children live and may this big-picture perspective encourage us to be Godly parents who love our children and consider it a joy to be allowed this honor to take care of them while they are here.
The NH Institute of Politics announces that the Republican presidential debate will take place on June 5, 2007, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. “Sponsored by CNN, WMUR-TV and the New Hampshire Union Leader, the debate will include every major republican candidate currently running for president: former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Sens. John McCain and Sam Brownback, Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Govs. Mitt Romney and Jim Gilmore, and Congressmen Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter.”
For those of you who have never seen a sumo match, load up your 
